1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container for housing a liquid such as cosmetic ink, writing ink and a correction liquid, etc, and supplying the liquid from a tip end side.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a container for housing a liquid of this kind, there is the one described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-14844. The liquid container described in this Official Gazette is comprised of a barrel body in which a coating liquid storing portion is formed, a threaded bar projectingly provided at a piston slidably fitted in the storing portion, and a rotary cylinder integrally connecting an inner cylinder member and an outer cylinder member. The outer cylinder member has a ring protruded rib and an engaging claw, which is capable of being resilient in a tip end portion of the outer cylinder member in an axial direction, so that the ring protruded rib is press-fitted into a ring groove at the rear end of the barrel body to rotatably connect the rotary cylinder to the barrel body, and the engaging claw of the outer cylinder member is elastically meshed with a ratchet tooth integrally formed in a circumferential direction in the barrel body to construct a ratchet mechanism. A threaded hole is provided in the inner cylinder member of the rotary cylinder to be screwed onto the threaded bar, two plane portions formed on both sides over the entire length of the threaded bar are slidably fitted in a slide hole formed in a partition wall of the rear end of the storing portion of the barrel body, and the threaded bar is moved forward without being rotated by the rotation of the rotary cylinder to press the piston in the axial direction to supply a coating liquid.
When the rotary cylinder is rotated with respect to the barrel body, relative rotation occurs between the inner cylinder member of the rotary cylinder and the threaded bar because the threaded bar is slidably fitted in the slide hole formed in the partition wall of the rear end portion of the storing portion of the barrel body, and the threaded bar advances by thread engagement between the threaded bar and the threaded hole of the rotary cylinder to press the piston in the axial direction to make it possible to supply a coating liquid to a tip end of the barrel body.
However, with the liquid container described in this Official Gazette, the partition wall is formed at the rear end of the storing portion of the barrel body, and the slide hole fitted on the two plane portions of the threaded bar has to be formed on the partition wall, and further, the ratchet teeth have to be integrally formed in the inner circumferential direction of the barrel body, thus causing the problem that production of the barrel body is difficult in molding. Upon assembly, the piston and the threaded bar are inserted from a front of the barrel body, the threaded bar is passed through the slide hole of the partition wall, and thereafter the rotary cylinder is inserted from a rear of the barrel body and the inner cylinder member of the rotary cylinder has to be screwed on the threaded bar, thus causing the problem that the assembly is difficult. Therefore, it is difficult to produce commercially practical mass production products with the construction of the liquid container of the above-described Official Gazette.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-299442 has its object to provide a liquid container which is excellent in moldability and easiness of assembly, suitable for mass production and capable of being commercialized, in order to solve the above problems. The liquid container comprises a body having a tank portion for housing a liquid and having a supply port on a tip end side, a piston for moving forward inside the tank portion, a piston rod integrally connected to the piston to extend rearward, and having a male thread formed on a peripheral surface, a manipulating cylinder rotatably mounted to a rear portion of the body, a piston rod guide in which a female threaded hole screwed onto the male thread of the piston rod and which rotates integrally with the manipulating cylinder, and a ratchet cylinder which is fixed to a rear inner portion of the body and in which an insertion hole through which the piston rod is unrotatably inserted, and sawteeth are formed at a front end of the manipulating cylinder, and ratchet teeth which are meshed with the saw teeth and are capable of projecting and retracting in the axial direction are formed at a rear end of the ratchet cylinder.
According to this construction, the ratchet teeth and the insertion hole are formed on the ratchet cylinder, and its production is simplified to make its commercialization possible.